Supreme Court Set To End Abortion Rights and Avoid Political Repercussions

A brief filed by the Trump administration provides a guide for U.S. Supreme Court Justices who want to end abortion without creating a political backlash. The brief addresses consolidated cases — June Medical Services v. Gee and Gee v. June Medical Services. It asks the Court to ignore a 2016 decision that struck down an abortion restriction that is virtually identical to the one at issue in those cases, and also outlines an argument that implicates the question of who is allowed to bring a lawsuit challenging laws restricting abortion. If the arguments prevail, and given the Court’s present makeup they probably will, it will be one of a two-prong set of restrictions that will make it nearly impossible for anyone to obtain an abortion in states that decide to bar the procedure. A year ago Justice Kavanaugh suggested that he would impose a procedural barrier on abortion plaintiffs that effectively prevents them from obtaining a court order that applies to anyone other than themselves. The combination of that and the barrier advanced by the Trump administration would be devastating to abortion rights, but procedurally arcane enough to cause little immediate stir politically.